Local Students to be immersed in State Government

Palmyra-Macedon High School senior, Allyson Blazey, and Wayne Central senior, Marina Barci, have a lot of interests, including government and politics.

After hearing about the League of Women Voters (LWV) Students Inside Albany program, they applied for the local League sponsorship and were selected from several highly qualified applicants to represent Wayne County at this year’s conference.

Allyson is a member of the varsity lacrosse and soccer teams at Pal-Mac, and she was selected last year as a “natural helper” – a student who works with peers to solve problems. Her parents are Kathy and Jim Blazey of Palmyra. Allyson is taking a full schedule of courses at Pal-Mac, including college-level and IB courses. She works part-time at Wegmans and is planning on attending SUNY Potsdam to major in pre-law.

Marina is the treasurer of Wayne’s National Honor Society, Vice President of the Future Business Leaders of America, and a member of the Ski and Snowboard club and the Technology Students association. Her parents are Vita and Kevin Barci of Ontario. Marina works part-time at McDonalds. She is planning on going to college for International Business and Political science with minors in Spanish and statistics. She hopes to attend law school after finishing her undergraduate schooling.

There are three components to the SIA conference, lectures from professionals working in fields that impact the political process, a guided tour of the Capital, and the chance to shadow a New York State Assemblyperson and Senator. Last year’s student, Jake Plyter of Williamson, enjoyed the tour and found LWV Legislative Director’s, Barbara Bartoletti, talks on redistricting, lobbying, and the steps interested people could take to work toward becoming a politician really impressive. Jake also participated in a press conference with Wayne County’s State Senator, Michael Nozzollio.